29th September - RSPB Minsmere and North Warren, Suffolk

 As the week drew to an end I had the chance to visit Minsmere once more.  It was a lovely morning, sunny and with very little wind.  I had been debating what to do when I arrived, should I go straight to the Bittern hide or walk the dunes.  While I had a feeling there would not be much around the bushes I just had to go along the North Wall to the beach, something always draws me to the beach.  

Walking along the North Wall, this morning I could hear the pings of Bearded Tits, the still conditions making it easier for them and me.  I walked up to the path through the dunes and headed towards the Sizewell monolith.

I didn't bother with the East hide for reasons I will explain later, but did try the public hide, which is actually a platform.  From here I could see four distant Avocet and a Wigeon crossing in front of me.

I could hear a Stonechat calling directly in front of me and as I scanned to try and find it I came across this Snipe feeding in the cut reeds.  Once again the camouflage is quite remarkable

Incidentally I never found the calling Stonechat.

I mentioned earlier that there was a reason for not visiting the east hide, well this it the scrape viewed from the public hide looking across to the south hide, tidy island and plenty of water, the only thing missing are the birds.

This is the scene in front of the east hide.  On Saturday there was nobody working but this morning the diggers were in operation.  Apparently they are clearing out the silt that has built up with the intention of making this are more suitable to flood providing deeper water for wildfowl and better conditions for waders.  In addition they are creating a wheelchair accessible path from the North Wall to the East Hide, by cutting through the reeds.

All this means that there are no birds on this part of the scrape, despite this there were people, without binoculars looking out of the windows!

As I reached the Sluice I could hear the familiar calls of a group of Bearded Tits, having failed to get good views of them on my last visit I was determined to get some better views today.  I dropped down into the reserve and stood and waited.  I could hear them from the reeds alongside the East River, from the "pings" this was a large group and eventually they showed at the top of the reeds.

Female types to start with

Then through the moving reeds a beautiful male.

A classic pose.

The Bearded Tit, or more appropriately named – Reedling, is not a tit at all but belongs to a family of East-Asian birds called parrotbills. Bearded Tits are in fact more closely related to thrushes than tits.

The still conditions and the fact that I was able to use the reeds as some kind of cover allowed me to get a lot of unprecedented views and shots of a very enigmatic bird, one sort after by photographers

Clearly it is not a "beard" but a very flowing moustache.  They remind me a lot of my old Bicester Town football manager Nigel "Cass" Cassidy, the moustache was his signature and they have a very similar physique, minus the tail of course.  In his playing days Cass used to play for Oxford United.

Bearded tits are the only British songbird to stay in reedbeds all year round. Originally they were limited by the availability of reedbeds in Britain, but thanks to newly created or expanded reedbeds, they are now more widespread and can be found in parts of eastern and southern England, Morecambe Bay in northwest England and around the Tay estuary in Scotland.

Something I can't recall I have seen before, an open bill

Although bearded tits are not well known for migration, there is some movement in the autumn through local dispersal. On occasion, there is also an influx of continental birds from mainland Europe. They are more gregarious outside of the breeding season, and therefore tend to be easier to see.

Finally they flew off and I moved on, pleased that I had decided to walk around the Scrape first.

Turning the corner there were Wigeon on the pools alongside the path.

But once again it was the calls of Bearded Tits that stopped me and I was faced with a huge flock of around 50 birds in the reeds on both sides of the path.

Bearded tits survive in the reedbeds all year round by changing their diet from insects during the spring and summer, to seeds in the autumn and winter. They cope with this by altering their gut morphology, and by eating large amounts of grit particles that help to grind down the tough seed fibres.  This is what was attracting the birds to the area next to the path, they were collecting grit

Later on I mentioned this to the Warden who said this is a lot earlier this year than in previous years, this behaviour normally starts around mid October.

One male became very showy at the top of a reed stem allowing me some wonderful views once again.

Due to their range restriction, bearded tit populations can be vulnerable to particularly harsh winters, flooding and saltwater inundation into reedbeds. As a result local extinctions can occur. For example, in the cold winter of 1947 the East Anglian population decreased to just four or five pairs in Suffolk and a lone male in Norfolk. It is thought that the snow cover prevented them from accessing the seeds they needed to survive.  Lets hope this winter doesn't turn out to be that bad.

Then like before the flock was gone in a chorus of "pings" and associated calls.  I walked on completely satisfied with my decision to head out to the beach.  But now I was off to the Bittern hide to stare at reeds.

I stopped alongside the south hide to watch three Avocet in the still water.  I had to have a photograph of an Avocet at RSPB Minsmere.

At the Bittern Hide unlike Saturday today was quiet.  There was a few Bittern and Great Egret fly pasts, but on the whole it was pushing the limits of patience.  The one highlight was the male Marsh Harrier that showed very well in front of the hide.

Here you can appreciate the long legs that are used to snatch prey.

I didn't have the time I had on Saturday to sit out the Bittern Hide so moved on to the Island Mere.  On the way I came across what looked like a family party of Wren

There was also a male Adder sunbathing under a Bramble bush.

At the Island Mere the conditions were very similar.  A Bittern showed at the back of the mere and one also flew across.  The highlight though was a Little Gull that I found when it was harrassed by a Herring Gull, the size difference standing out

Leaving the hide there were Common Darter sunbathing on the hand rails of the board walk leading to the hide.

There was a report of a Grey Phalarope at RSPB North Warren and I decided to go for, Minsmere was quiet.  The problem though was where at North Warren.  I had walked there at the end of August and had not managed to see the viewing platforms.  I stopped of at the cafe for a quick pastie and then headed the short distance to the North Warren reserve.

I parked close to the house and found a map of the reserve.  The report I had seen said it was viewable from a platform off the old railway line on the South Marsh.  I knew where this was and set off across the reserve, finding a Green Woodpecker and Kestrel along the way.  When I reached the platform it looked out over a marsh but no water!  I scanned the marsh and could see on the other side a platform with birders.  This was clser to where I had parked the car!

I set off back, walking and running around the path I had just walked and arrived at the platform to this scene.

Unfortunately there was no Grey Phalarope and to make things worse it had flown off 20 minutes ago, if I had gone straight to this platform I would have seen it.  I decided to wait for a while, the phalarope had dropped into the dyke behind the open pool.  Five small waders flew in raising hopes only to find that they were Ringed Plover.

There were Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall and three Pintail in the grasses around the pool.

I gave it an hour and a half, but it never appeared.  At one point the cattle came close to the dyke and flushed a Bittern that flew up and dropped very quickly back into the small patch of reeds.  I left and headed back to the house.

Later on we were treated to yet another spectacular sunset over the River Alde estuary.

The last sun of what has been a very enjoyable break.